Nearly six percent of children who presented to the Emergency Department (ED) with COVID-19 reported long-term COVID-19 symptoms 90 days later, according to a study conducted in eight countries and published in JAMA Network Open. Initial hospitalization of 48 hours or more, four or more symptoms at initial ED visit, and age 14 years or older were associated with long-lasting COVID.
“We found that in some children, illness with COVID-19 is associated with reporting persistent symptoms after three months,” says lead researcher Dr. Stephen Freedman, MD, a pediatric emergency medicine physician with Alberta Health Services and associate professor of medicine at Cumming College of Medicine (CSM).
“Our findings suggest that appropriate guidance and follow-up is needed, especially for children at high risk for COVID-19.”
The study included 1,884 children with COVID-19 who were followed up for 90 days. Long-term COVID was found in nearly 10% of hospitalized children and 5% of children discharged from the ED. Dr. Anna Funk, PhD, an epidemiologist and postdoctoral fellow at UCalgary, was the lead author of the study.
“The reported rates of long-term COVID in adults are substantially higher than what we found in children,” says co-principal investigator Dr. Nathan Kuppermann, MD, MPH, of the University of California, Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento.
“Our findings can inform public health policy decision-making about COVID-19 mitigation strategies for children and screening approaches for long-term COVID-19 among those with severe outcomes.”
The most commonly reported persistent symptoms in children were fatigue or weakness, cough, shortness of breath, or shortness of breath.
“Our finding that children who had multiple symptoms of COVID-19 initially had a higher risk of having long-term COVID is consistent with studies in adults,” says co-principal investigator Dr. Todd Florin, MD, MSCE, of Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s. Hospital of Chicago and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
“Unfortunately, there are no known therapies for long-term COVID-19 in children, and more research is needed in this area. However, if symptoms are significant, symptom-directed treatment is more important. Multidisciplinary care is warranted if symptoms affect quality of life.”